Mom and Roz Weekend

Last weekend I took my annual trip to go see Roz in Minneapolis. I had a little trouble getting off the ground, engine trouble sent us back to the gate for about an hour. While I was sitting on the plane, Jerry and the kids were having breakfast at Denny's. 

Thankfully, I did get there eventually.

First stop after meeting up with Trevor (and getting a quick tour of his new place) was Giordano's Pizza for dinner. The wait was long, but they let you order your pizza half way through your wait so once you're at your table you don't have to wait all over again for them to cook it. No wonder it takes so long to cook, their Chicago deep dish pizzas are REALLY deep!

I'm not a big drinker, but I did try this beer. It was pretty good!

Roz and I made our usual trip to Junk Bonanza on Saturday. I kept my eye out for chicken items, I especially wanted an egg scale, but didn't have any luck. I only got a few small things. After JB we went out to Culver's for lunch and hit up a favorite thrift store. We hit up the new outlet mall where I splurged and got myself a new purse. Then we ran to JoAnns and Target to buy some crafting supplies before running to Panera for a quick dinner.

Sunday morning we got out the door bright and early to run to the Farmer's Market and meet my cousin Katie for brunch. I bought some fresh cheese curds to bring home to the boys. Yum!

We had brunch at Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge. Weird name, good food, and AWESOME weather - although I can't give the restaurant credit for that!

After brunch, we ran over to look at the park location for next year's WEDDING OF THE YEAR!

Then we swung by the Happy Gnome (restaurant) for a quick peek at where the reception will be. As you can see, I made a new friend. You can meet him yourself next June if you come to the wedding!

Here is a little sneak peek at our craft project. Roz bought a small, vintage suitcase at Junk Bonanza. We took it home and ripped out the old lining. I re-lined it and Roz made a cute little banner for it. She will put it on a table at the reception for cards. So cute!

Before you know it, Monday morning rolled around and it was time for me to head back home. I'm always depressed for a few days after parting ways with Roz. At least this time I have her and Trevor's upcoming Thanksgiving trip to look forward to!

Lost at Sea?

The day after we returned from our California vacation, I was sitting at the computer and put my hand up to my face. As soon as I felt my ring against my skin, I knew something was wrong. I looked down and the diamond in my ring was gone. 

I have no idea where or when it fell out. It could be at Legoland, the house we rented, in the ocean, or anywhere in between. I'm kind of hoping it's in the ocean because that's more romantic - kind of like the "heart of the ocean" jewel in Titanic - than having it drop down the bathroom sink drain at the Jack in the Box in Yuma.

I'm glad I didn't notice it until we got home, it would have really ruined my vacation. If would have really bothered me to know where I lost it when there was little chance of me ever finding it. 

Our 20th anniversary is next year so I guess I will get a new ring set! In the meantime, I just couldn't have an empty finger so I ordered this ring set from Amazon. It was only $12! I told Jerry he couldn't just say that was good enough, although I am sure he was tempted.

So, if you happen to be in the Carlsbad, CA area or the Pacific ocean and find a diamond, please let me know!

Into the West Jeep Tour

Day two of our wild west getaway with Gram and Pa was spent riding around the desert in jeeps! Two jeeps, each with a guide, picked us up at the hotel on Friday morning. Gram, Pa, Wesley, Eli, and Justus rode in one jeep.

Jerry, Hayden, JD, Annabeth, and I rode in the other. I have to say it was a little nerve wracking at first because we weren't wearing seat belts. I don't think any of our kids have ever ridden in vehicle without them on. I kept one hand on Annabeth the whole ride!

We rode from Tombstone out into the Dragoon Mountains. As we drove the guides told us about what we were seeing - the landscape and the history. The ride up the mountain was pretty rough. We leaned left and right as we climbed the rocky sides. Annabeth loved it! I'm sure there were a few times Grandma was hanging on for dear life in the other jeep!

We made a few stops along the way to check out abandoned mines and old buildings.

The scenery up in the mountains was beautiful! It was actually a little chilly, especially in the open air jeeps as we were speeding along.

We came out one mountain range and headed towards another. Just as we were approaching the second range, our jeep was lucky enough to see a herd of deer. We pulled over and watched them for a minute. That's a sight we don't see by our house! Unfortunately, the rest of the gang in the jeep ahead missed seeing them.

The big stop of the tour was Johnny Ringo's grave. He was a bad guy (or "pizza guy" as Annabeth likes to call them)  in Wyatt Earp's day who was found dead by a tree. His death was ruled a suicide, but I think the general consensus is that he was murdered.

The grave is actually on private land, but they allow visitors. The same family owns the land now that did back in 1882! We ate a quick picnic lunch by the grave. It was a little windy and the ants found us right away so we didn't linger long with the food.

Here you can see the view of the mountains out the back of the Jeep. Notice you can't see Hayden and JD sitting back there. They were laying down on the seat and the floor to try to stay out of the wind because they were freezing.

One of the old buildings we saw was this general store in Pearce. It closed up shop in the 1950's and they left everything inside just as it was the day it closed. Last fall, the new owner opened it up and sold some of the items inside. I sure wish I could have been there for that! I guess there is still a bunch of stuff in there and they plan to have another sale. We weren't able to go inside, unfortunately.

We were able to go inside the Gleeson Jail. The first Gleeson jail was a big tree in a wash. If you committed a crime they cuffed you to the tree and you stayed out there rain or shine. They eventually built a building, but supposedly it wasn't very secure and some prisoners were able to escape. The jail there now, built in 1910 was more secure and obviously well built since it still standing in pretty good shape.

The inside of the building is full of photos and artifacts collected by the current owners. The guide locked us in the cell for the full jail experience!

The rest of the ride was mostly highway heading back to Tombstone. We were dropped off at the hotel and then we had to get back in the van for the ride home. I will say the van was a lot more comfortable than the jeeps! No one was freezing and it was much less windy and noisy.

The Grande Hotel

Last year, during our wild west getaway, we stayed at the Grande Hotel in Tombstone. Pa liked it so much he reserved us a room there again this year. In fact, we stayed in the exact same rooms!

We got settled and went to the pool for a swim. We haven't "opened" the pool at home yet so this was the first swim of 2015. The water was warm but the air was a little chilly.

The boys got in the pool. Annabeth and I were less adventurous and hung out in the hot tub for a bit.

After our swim we ordered pizza from a local bar. Jerry and I went to pick it up and brought it back to the hotel. Since there were 10 of us, we ate in the breakfast area where there were plenty of tables and chairs. Some fellow hotel guests saw us and thought it was provided by the hotel! We didn't share with them, but we did share a slice with the gal who worked the front desk. She was very nice and took good care of us.

Each evening the hotel puts a movie on and pops some popcorn. Since we had a bunch of kids, they let us choose. The boys wanted to watch Jurassic Park 2 (Jerry just let them watch the original a few months ago), but the DVD was missing from the case. So, we chose Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory instead. The kids seemed to enjoy it. We watched, munched on popcorn, and even drank some juice from the continental breakfast area (the front desk said it was okay).

When the movie was done, Jerry and I left Wesley in charge of our two rooms (Gram and Pa were across the hall) and headed down for a soak in the hot tub. Most of the kids ended up watching a second movie (E.T.) on television. It made for a late night, but they had fun. Unfortunately, despite the late night, they didn't really sleep in the next morning.

We took our time getting up and dressed before we went down to eat breakfast. Our kids love continental breakfasts. I swear most of the boys want to try one of every single thing offered! They stuffed themselves and then we went back to the rooms to pack up and check out so were ready to meet the jeeps for our jeep tour by 10am.

Queen Mine Tour

First stop on this year's wild west vacation with Pa and Gram was the Queen Mine Tour in Bisbee. Apparently, there is a neat museum in town, but we missed it. We walked around the little visitor center for a bit instead.

There were some old mining carts to look at and sit on outside too.

This is the entrance to the mine. When you go on the tour you straddle those yellow seats. The mine was first claimed in 1877. It closed in 1975 and shortly after that they opened it up for tours. All the tour guides are retired miners.

Before you go in for the tour you are outfitted with hard hats, a jacket, and a light. The mine is a cool 47º year round. (We should all have underground houses here!) The mine goes straight into the mountain, you don't go up or down on the tour at all.

The boys, Jerry, Pa, and I went on the tour. Gram and Annabeth shopped in the gift shop while we were gone.

Our tour guide was pretty funny. If I have one complaint about the tour, it's that it was very hard to hear what the guide was saying. We stopped several times and got off the little trolley, but even then it was hard to hear.

Did you know miners actually appreciate cockroaches in their work area? I guess they can feel the vibrations of rock about to fall long before humans can. So when the miners saw the cockroaches running, they ran too!

While inside we got to see some of the tools they use to break into the rock. This mine, like most around here, produce copper.

Below are some (fake) fuses to dynamite sticks. They would put about 24 sticks in and then connect the fuses before lighting them. Our guide joked that they left the un-expoded sticks for the next shift to deal with.

I'm not really afraid of confined spaces, but I'm not sure I could ever work as a miner! It was dangerous work!

Weekend Getaway Part 5: Wrap Up

It was a busy weekend. The reunion, the Grand Canyon, and a stop on Route 66. We also did a lot of dining al fresco. We worked our little camp stove pretty hard all weekend. Camp fires were restricted so we didn't count on them for cooking meals. We were able to have them in the evening with a wink from the KOA and a promise to keep them small with water nearby.

First Breakfast

Last Dinner

Yum!

The campground offered a "hayride" on weekend evenings. We just went around the campground once on a flat bed trailer pulled by a tractor. The young lady sitting next to us really loved our shirts. She said she'd seen so many throughout the campground!

The best part of the hayride was waving to our family members as we went by. Cousin Tom caught this one of us being silly...

There were a few games of horseshoe. Jerry and I also played a few rounds of Shut Box one night. Jerry's family is known for playing cards but we didn't manage to squeeze any card playing in this time.

Annabeth and the boys got in some games of the electronic sort. Actually, I don't even know what she is doing here. She just likes to tap apps on the iPad. It was past her bedtime and I was stalling until the boys got back to the cabin to get in their jammies. I didn't want to put her to bed and them have them come "home" and wake her up.

Late at night

First thing in the morning

Annabeth was good for most of the adventure, but she didn't much care for sleeping in the Pack N Play in a one room cabin with the rest of us. The first night she cried a good long while before dosing off. She finally fell asleep only to wake up crying again halfway through the night. I ended up bringing her to bed with us which meant she slept great but Jerry and I didn't. The second night was better, probably because she was just so exhausted. The third night was similar to the first. We were all glad to be back home as far as sleeping was concerned!

When we woke up Monday morning we found two horses had moved in behind our cabin. That explained the noise that sounded like someone going to the bathroom outside my window in the middle of the night! I thought our new neighbors didn't feel like walking to the bathroom! The woman who owns the horses was very nice and shared some information about them with the kids.

A few more minutes to play with cousins while mom and dad packed up the van. Then it was time to head back home.

We stopped at a Pizza Hut in Anthem for the lunch buffet. Then got back in the van to make it home in time for Annabeth to take a much needed nap in her own bed.

The worst part about taking a little vacation is getting everything put away when you get home. It took me several days to work through the laundry and get rid of the piles of stuff that needed to be put away. I will say... it sure takes a lot more stuff to go camping with eight people than it does three! But we would like to do it more. We had a lot of fun and there are plenty of places to explore!